Secret Ingredient

Berry Dream had been looking forward to this occasion. There was a big party being thrown to celebrate the season with all their friends and each of them was to bring their own dish or two. Berry wasn't the most exceptional baker by any means, but they did like to bake. The kitchen had yet to burn down and they were injury free to date, so that counted as a win to them! They were planning on making a few desserts and even getting a little adventurous with things. Hopefully it went well, they'd never made a cheesecake before. Most of the work had to already be done with the cream cheese, right?

... Right?

Well if things ended up disastrous they just wouldn't have cheesecake. Brownies, cookies, and regular cake were already on the menu and all the ingredients had been acquired. There were just a few things left on the list. Walking through the aisles, Berry wondered if they should also bring a few things to make some drinks. At this point, the whole party should be left to them, but they couldn't help it! Things like this were just right up their alley. If there was an excuse to party and spoil their friends, they would hop on it in half a second.

Let's see... the last thing they needed was strawberries. This one was important because of the sheer number of things that neded it. The normal cake was going to use it for decoration, the cheesecake was going to have it both mixed in and also on top. If things panned out well, they planned to make a syrup with them as well. Oh, they could even set some aside for jam! Strawberry jam and toast sounded great for the mornings.

But not just any strawberries would work. They had to be big and ripe and juicy and seeing as they needed a lot, they were going to be checking several containers and stocking up on more than likely necessary. Better to have too much than too little! Would the store be mad if they just bought half of the stock out on the floor? Actually wait... how many carats did they have? Eh, it would be fine surely. They'd had some pretty good luck at the casino lately!

Finally reaching the fruits and veggies section, Berry bee-lined right for the strawberries and got to work examining all the containers with a careful eye. As their name might suggest, Berry was a bit of an expert in fruits but had a particular fondness for all things berry-related. They even tried gardening a few times! To uh... varying degrees of success- but success nonetheles! Ooh, that was a good batch right there. Into the basket it went. The next one wasn't too bad either, or the next! Wow, this store knew how to pick them, didn't they? More than pleased with the success rate of berry finding, the bun hummed a happy little tune and kept piling the cartons into their basket. Once there was an exorbitant amount, they happily made their way over to a register and gave the cashier a little bit of a scare.

"Oh gosh! That's quite a lot of strawberries there. What are you making?"

"Lots of things! A few cakes, maybe some drinks, maybe some jam. I just hope I have enough, haha!"

"I'll be surprised if you don't.  You're buying them up like they're going extinct."

They shared a short little conversation and a few laughs after that before bidding goodbye. And Berry could hardly wait to get home and get to work.